Is it true that low doses can help you emotionally without bringing on obvious physical changes? If that is the case, could someone explain what I might expect to experience over the early days and weeks if I were to start taking them?
Expect some changes even on low dose. Changes might happen at a far slower rate but they will happen. The blocker can make a big difference but even they may have some effect on your body.
Not everybody responds the same to HRT and some are highly responsive even on low dose. How you will respond can't be determined in advance so have a fall back plan.
Wouldn't you be able to stop if you noticed any physical changes or can they continue once you've set them in motion?
Everyone's different, but what might you notice mentally in the early stages?
HRT can be highly addictive. Not like street drugs but shutting down the T factor can result in a major reduction in dysphoria. Once you see what life can be like, you may have a difficult time returning to life as before.
Changes will stop if you stop HRT and you may have a reduction in development as well. The dysphoria reduction happens in the first 2-4 weeks once the T levels are reduced to a low level however this can vary from person to person.
I'm in a relationship. I have heard of other girls in similar situation who are on low doses. Wonder if it might be something to explore or too risky?
Had the treatment available today been available to me, I would have found it far to risky not to try it. For others, loss of family or work may make them decide it's far to risky to try. This will be a personal judgement that only you can make.
Over the decades I relied on my On/Off periods of Low Dose HRT to get over the hump. Most times it would be a few months. The "Hump" having been conquered weeks or months earlier.
I stopped when the "Not So Obvious" but all too concerning physical affect of taking a hit below the belt took place. Definitely not aligned with "The Prime Directive" of being a "Normal" guy.
I am on low dose HRT since about 18 months now. It helps my dysphoria, without any change in my life (family, work). I am lucky enough that why wife understands and accepts. I am only out to her.
Physical changes are minimal and manageable so far. At the swimming pool, my daughters are just laughing a mit more at my breast, a bit big for a dad...
I've been logging my experience on the thread in my signature.
Basically it helps, but be prepared to fall into transition - it's not something to enter into lightly
Quote from: luna nyan on November 09, 2016, 03:05:38 AM
Basically it helps, but be prepared to fall into transition - it's not something to enter into lightly
You've obviously managed to resist the temptation. I wonder how strong the urge to 'go for it' is after starting on low does HRT?
Quote from: Christine_Hart on November 09, 2016, 07:05:02 AM
You've obviously managed to resist the temptation. I wonder how strong the urge to 'go for it' is after starting on low does HRT?
Very few manage it. I lasted 5 years on low dose, then couldn't take it anymore and went to a full transitioning dose about 3 years ago. I'm still presenting male. Not sure I'm going to last much longer though, all this hiding is very stressful.
Quote from: AnonyMs on November 09, 2016, 07:35:38 AM
Very few manage it. I lasted 5 years on low dose, then couldn't take it anymore and went to a full transitioning dose about 3 years ago. I'm still presenting male. Not sure I'm going to last much longer though, all this hiding is very stressful.
How couldn't you take it anymore? Was it because you were seeing the benefits of being female and got to the stage when you couldn't resist going further?
Quote from: Christine_Hart on November 09, 2016, 07:05:02 AM
You've obviously managed to resist the temptation. I wonder how strong the urge to 'go for it' is after starting on low does HRT?
I believe the "temptation" or desire to change gender comes from the dysphoria itself. I think HRT does not increase it, I would even say, by alleviating the suffering, that it allows to better focus on the other things of life. Since I started HRT, I feel the dysphoria is easier to manage, however it did not disappear, I know I will have to live with it forever. The feelings change on HRT, therefore you have a new psychological challenge to interpret them, while keeping a male social role. You have to tell yourself "I am alleviating a suffering, coming from a medical condition", and not "I am starting a transition to a new gender", if it is what you mean. But it might not be worse than keeping resisting the deep dysphoria troubles without HRT.
Quote from: Christine_Hart on November 09, 2016, 08:35:33 AM
How couldn't you take it anymore? Was it because you were seeing the benefits of being female and got to the stage when you couldn't resist going further?
Not really, its the mental effects. I stopped low dose because I got seriously depressed, and a transitioning dose and a few decisions on what to do next fixed that. Now my problems is I live in fear of people finding out what I've done, and have to hide everything away. Its an oppressive life and its beginning to get to me. I don't have much or any social dysphoria so I don't mind presenting male in the way many do.
I've found the mental effects of HRT are far bigger than the physical, though those are awesome too.
Quote from: AnonyMs on November 09, 2016, 09:23:15 AM
Not really, its the mental effects. I stopped low dose because I got seriously depressed, and a transitioning dose and a few decisions on what to do next fixed that.
I've heard a few people talking about feeling depressed. Do you think that's because the hormones knock down the hard male way of dealing with things so there are less mental barriers to help you cope with upsetting things?
I feel better on HRT, even if I had to get used to the new feelings, overall much more pleasant, but sometimes a bit strange, as anything new. I believe that if you really have a dysphoria, the new hormones are better for your brain and wellbeing. It seems that, overtime, your body protects itself against these external drugs, making them less efficient, and you might need higher doses for the same effect. And if you come back to the previous state (as I tried lowering my doses for a month), it becomes very painful and difficult to handle.
This being said, you keep having a dysphoria and you can depress about it.
Quote from: luna nyan on November 09, 2016, 03:05:38 AMbe prepared to fall into transition - it's not something to enter into lightly
What do you think are the mental danger signs that someone considering taking hormones should consider if they don't want to fall into transition?
Quote from: Christine_Hart on November 09, 2016, 12:18:09 PM
What do you think are the mental danger signs that someone considering taking hormones should consider if they don't want to fall into transition?
Being transgender.
Quote from: Christine_Hart on November 08, 2016, 04:31:08 PM
Is it true that low doses can help you emotionally without bringing on obvious physical changes? If that is the case, could someone explain what I might expect to experience over the early days and weeks if I were to start taking them?
It may start slower for you but it depends on the body it could even on a low dose happen faster
the changes you would get emotionally would be like any other female you'll see although i'm no expert
I highly suggest going to your endro and asking there is a lot of mixed information out there good or bad.
Also i am FTM so my info is barely helpful, i mean yea i can try but at the same time i can't because
i don't know with all my disorders on top of being born female what my femaled body did that was naturally just happening. But! :) i can assure you you'll probably cry a lot but not in a bad way ^_^ so don't worry.
Quote from: Christine_Hart on November 09, 2016, 12:18:09 PM
What do you think are the mental danger signs that someone considering taking hormones should consider if they don't want to fall into transition?
Quote from: AnonyMs on November 09, 2016, 07:48:24 PMBeing transgender.
Christine, if your personal truth (even unacknowledged) is that you're
female, you may find transition unescapable if you want to alleviate your dysphoria, HRT or not.
Quote from: Autrement on November 09, 2016, 08:36:57 AMI believe the "temptation" or desire to change gender comes from the dysphoria itself. I think HRT does not increase it, I would even say, by alleviating the suffering, that it allows to better focus on the other things of life. Since I started HRT, I feel the dysphoria is easier to manage, however it did not disappear, I know I will have to live with it forever.
This, mostly.
However, I found my dysphoria
did disappear after I fully transsexed -- that is, by changing my body and my life to where I am gendered female by myself and everyone around me.
Quote from: Christine_Hart on November 08, 2016, 05:34:52 PM
I'm in a relationship. I have heard of other girls in similar situation who are on low doses. Wonder if it might be something to explore or too risky?
QuoteI've heard a few people talking about feeling depressed. Do you think that's because the hormones knock down the hard male way of dealing with things so there are less mental barriers to help you cope with upsetting things?
In regards to the first, a month after starting a "low" non-transition dose I became unable to reliably perform as a male, if you know what I mean. Sex could still happen, but not the same way. As with everything, your mileage may vary.
As for the second, yes, I believe this is it exactly. Testosterone makes it much easier to dissociate or compartmentalize emotions. Once that (and maybe some mental walls/other defenses) are broken down you have to develop actual coping skills with a quickness, because the emotions HAVE to be dealt with, they won't just go away anymore. It takes some getting used to. Again, your mileage may vary, some don't get many emotional changes at all.
Don't enter into low dose HRT lightly. I, personally, feel that the original, very low starter dose was more transformative, in a figurative sense, than all the dosage increases that came after. It changed the way I perceive and interact with the world, while moving up to a transition dose was more of the same, just with varying degrees of intensity.
Of course I'm told you can always stop, though I feel it's a bit of a Pandora's box. But then, you've already opened that, haven't you?
Quote from: Christine_Hart on November 09, 2016, 07:05:02 AM
You've obviously managed to resist the temptation. I wonder how strong the urge to 'go for it' is after starting on low does HRT?
2 years low dose pills. 2 years on low-ish pellet, but effectively the E levels are lower end of transitioning dose, and virtually no T.
I'm managing socially, but hiding the changes does get harder with time - beach and pools aren't so good these days. Fortunately here in Australia there is enough of a sun safety culture that a rashie is perfectly acceptable.
The dysphoria is manageable and I have other priorities in life at this point so it's not as big a deal for me so long as I don't get male related age changes.
I can mirror these concerns.
A year ago I would never have seen myself being in a position where transitioning is an option, let alone the path I needed to take. But that is where I am now and mentally I am much happier.
In short, from dysphoria it would physically make me sick to the point that I vomited at least once a day. This reduced significantly once I started low dose HRT.
The way I describe it is that on low dose HRT I no longer thought about being transgender all time - it is always there but I could focus on working without being distracted. My mind was a lot quieter and generally I was a lot happier (even people who didn't know I was on HRT commented). Before HRT I would be right on the tipping point all the time and I would snap at people all the time - now I am a lot me relaxed.
For me I saw the mental changes from a low dose which helped me to think clearly which led to me accepting that transitioning is what I want to do.
Take care
Steph
First few months I began showing emotions whether I wanted to or not. I even cried, it felt good. My breast came quicker than I thought, I had to wear 3 undershirts to hide them .. I'm just hitting 6 months
Sent from my XT830C using Tapatalk
Quote from: Christine_Hart on November 08, 2016, 05:34:52 PM
I'm in a relationship. I have heard of other girls in similar situation who are on low doses. Wonder if it might be something to explore or too risky?
Here's my take on it from my limited experience. With low dose HRT, your T will drop off, and you'll have a little E. So arousal, anger, assertiveness will likely take a hit; you could conflate that experience with depression without feeling "sad" per sea.
The thing is, you may also notice some small physical changes, and if you have some physical dysphoria, it'll be really hard to do anything other than latch onto those as a lifeline. Then you're in a tug of war, part of you doesn't want to deal with the complications of a full physical expression of your genes on E, (ie, what if you end up with D cups on a 34" chest...) and the other part of you desperately needs that expression because now it becomes the only physical expression of who you are in the physical world.
I experience this very sharply. Breast growth will be very inconvenient for me, as I have a very slow schedule of how I want things to play out; but the idea of restricting or limiting their ability to achieve full physical expression drives me nearly to the point of panic.
In the end, you have to be able to answer for yourself, WHY you are pursuing HRT.
That was very well put, Becky. I agree with everything you've said.
One of my biggest fears when starting HRT was that I would develop noticeable breasts and not much else would change about me. Which has kind of happened, but...sometimes I'll put a seatbelt on or some other sensory experience involving them and there's just something so right about it, it's like that's what's supposed to be.
They're always in the way and make holding certain things (like instruments) kinda awkward, I'm always managing to hit them with something, or accidentally rub them on or with something, completely unflattering while dressed male (which is always for me) and it's super awkward when people CLEARLY look at them, then up at you mid-conversation, and yet...